Experts told News18 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on creating an education system that allows students to stay in India rather than go abroad is a welcome step, but it also comes with huge challenges, including time constraints.
The Prime Minister, while addressing the nation on the 78th Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, also announced that the government will create 75,000 more medical seats in the next five years.
Study abroad consultants interviewed by News18 said that for most students, studying abroad is the second choice because they have to apply for an education loan and then repay the loan by working while studying. If there is an opportunity to return to China to study, they will definitely seize it.
Pratibha Jain of Eduaboard Consulting said that 50-60% of those who study abroad take education loans to study in foreign universities, whether at undergraduate (UG) level or postgraduate (PG) level. Since this number is huge, there must be as many affordable institutions as possible to help them stay and study in India.
“If these students attended public universities, they would not be forced to take out loans to study. For example, affordable higher education is popular in Eastern European countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Georgia and Romania. This is not because these countries The quality of education or facilities is better but because of the cost as private universities in India are too expensive for the middle class. If students go to India to study at similar fees, they will not want to go abroad. But the government must create this. environment, many quality institutions and as many seats as possible, it will take a lot of time, continued growth, commitment and investment,” Jain said.
Jain said that when it comes to postgraduate studies, India admits only 25% of aspirants, be it management, finance or medical education.
“Many institutions do not offer courses like Master of Finance. We only have MBA here from the Indian Institute of Management or other similar institutions and the entrance exam is too difficult. Seat reservations are also high so many who qualify for the exam cannot clear the exam and have to Consider the option of studying abroad,” she said.
In his speech on Thursday, the Prime Minister said that even today, most children belonging to the middle class are going abroad for medical education, spending billions of rupees. “Every year about 25,000 young people go abroad for medical education and they go to these countries and I am surprised when I hear about them,” Prime Minister Modi said, adding that the government wants more foreign students to come Study in India.
According to the National Medical Council (NMC), there are a total of 109,048 MBBS seats in public and private universities in India. Of these, there are approximately 56,000 seats in 386 government medical colleges.
Explaining the figures and the gap that needs to be filled, Mumbai-based overseas education consultant Dhananjay Shah said that of the 2.3 million students who will appear for the UG-level medical entrance exam by 2024, 56% will pass, which means about 12- 1.3 million students have qualified, while the total number of places available is just over a hundred thousand.
Therefore, those who cannot afford private medical colleges have to look for affordable options abroad. The average course fee in a private medical college in India is around Rs 90 lakh. The most popular countries for medical education include Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan, all of which are much less expensive.
“Currently, India is training about 100,000 doctors every year. To reach a doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1,000, which is the level of developed countries, one million more doctors are needed. Therefore, adding more seats in public universities is Right step. We are moving in the right direction, the number of seats is increasing and the number of aspirants is increasing. In 2014, there were only 54,000 medical seats, which has risen to more than one hundred thousand by 2024, which is commendable. “But the scope of government medical colleges needs to be expanded to keep the remaining lakhs of students in India who, despite their merits, are forced to go abroad due to lack of seats,” Shah said.
